Nelson: Legalize drugs, take smugglers off Forbes list

Commentary

TERRY NELSON

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, March 26, 2009

Forbes Magazine just named one of Mexico’s most notorious drug cartel leaders, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, as one of the world’s richest people. He’s worth an estimated $1 billion, ranking him as the 701st wealthiest person on Earth.

As a retired federal officer with over three decades of service, many of those years spent fighting America’s “war on drugs,” I see Guzman’s riches as a scalding condemnation of our nation’s failed drug policies.

Guzman’s 2001 prison escape and ability to outwit four major government manhunts between 2002 and 2007 show that the current prohibition approach doesn’t exactly keep bad guys off the streets.

According to Forbes, Guzman is “one of the biggest providers of cocaine to the United States.” Certainly his earnings are gained by selling drugs, but another part of his job description is killing people. Across Mexico, since the start of last year, some 7,000 people have been killed in illegal drug market violence. Guzman’s enforcers from the Sinaloa cartel are blamed for thousands of these killings.

Last year, President Felipe Calderon began using Mexico’s military to fight the drug cartels on his side of the border. The proposed solution to the increased drug war violence is more soldiers, more guns and more money, including hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance from American taxpayers.

Fighting these drug cartels with guns and money will only serve to escalate the violence and increase illegal profits. It doesn’t matter how much money or ammunition we throw at the drug trade, someone is going to earn this profit. And when we kill him, the next guy will take over, kill more citizens and earn more cash.

What other sign do we need? Forbes is the definitive authority on the world’s financial elite and has clearly documented the rampant riches these violent gangsters are raking in.

Remember Pablo Escobar? He was the Colombian drug kingpin whom Forbes said held $3 billion before police killed him in 1993. Did we end the drug trade and violence in Latin America by killing him? No. Now we have Shorty Guzman.

So, is there a solution to the problem of drug market violence in Mexico and the U.S.? Absolutely. We should end drug prohibition.

Based on what I saw on both sides of the border over my career, legalizing and regulating drugs is the only surefire way to end the cartel violence that is terrorizing Mexico, Afghanistan and other countries, including our own.

Legalization won’t be a cure-all for the problems of drug abuse. What legalization can do, however, is take a $500 billion a year industry away from the control of gangs and international drug cartels.

Legalization will improve both our economy and national security. When we legalized alcohol 75 years ago we put gangsters like Al Capone out of business. Legalizing drugs today will save money and hurt cartels’ and terrorists’ bottom lines, instead of placing them on the Forbes list.

Thankfully, more and more people are starting to realize this. According to a recent Zogby poll, three out of four Americans now say the “war on drugs” is a failure, and more think legalization is the best option than think stopping drugs at the border or eradicating drugs in their countries of origin will work.

It is essential to open a meaningful dialogue about prohibition and that we discuss the realities of America’s ongoing “war on drugs” to determine how to win and not just continue to play the game.

My experience as a federal agent tells me that drug trafficking causes so many unintended consequences that it must be controlled.

If we legalize and regulate the marketplace, economic rules will work in our favor, making it possible to instill control. It is time to fund education, research and treatment instead of jails and prisons. We all want a better future for our children and ourselves.